Capsule-machine



(ModeL) 2 Shets-Sheet 1.

J. KREHBIEL.

CAPSULE MACHINE.

Patented Apr. 7, 1885.

u. runs Mliihnm mm D. c.

(Model. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. KREHBIEL;

CAPSULE MAGHINE.

Patented Apr. '7 1885.

UNITED STATES- PAT NT OF ICE.

JoHN KREHBIEL, or DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

CAPSULEl- MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 315,416, dated April'I, 1885 Application filed March 26, 1884. (ModeL) i To all whom it mayconcern.-

, Be it known that I, JOHN KREHBIEL, of De-. troit, in the. county ofWayne and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Capsule-Finishing Machines, and I hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, ref-;

erence being had to the accompanying draw ings, which form a part ofthis specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in devicesfor joining together automatically the caps and bodies of gelatinecapsules, such as are now ordinarily made, with the internal bore of thecap fitting the external of the body, making what is commonly called astove-pipe joint. The de' ,vice is so constructed as not only to performthis function, but also, when desired, to fill such capsules withquinine or other dry medicaments before the cap is arranged in place. Asis well known, gelatine capsules are now formed in the shape ofcylinders with one end closed, and of regulated sizes to hold from onegrain upward of dry medicaments, and the cap is similarly made, butshorter.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction of parts and theirvarious combinations and operation, as more fullyhereinafter describedand claimed.

medicaments, and the arrangement of parts which close the cap upon thebody of the capsule. Fig. 6 is a detail of Fig. 5. -Fig57 is aperspective of the lower part of the delivering-tubes. Fig. 8 is across-section in line with the arms R, shown in Fig. 7.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Arepresents a hopper with an incline bottom, as shown in dotted lines,and, divided longitudinally into pairs of chambers, the first one, a, ofeach pair being designed to be filled with capsulebodies, and the secondone, 12, of each pair to receive the caps, or vice versa, and there.

may be as many pairs of these chambers as -ni'ay be desired. slide withan erternal handle, 0, controls an opening in the. front edge of thebottom of this hopper A, to regulate the delivery of the contents of thevarious, a

chambers.

r The capsules and caps are put into their re spective chambers withoutreference to their 2 position each with relation to the other; but

as it is necessary that the open ends of both the caps and capsules befinally presented toward each other, in order to secure suchpresentation Iprovide across the bottom of such hopper a series of veryfine spring-teeth,

bottom, and, being attached to avibrating bar,

B, preventing the capsules and caps choking in the delivery-orifice ofthe hopper. These caps and bodies are delivered into grooved ways 0,which are arranged in pairs, as shown. in Fig. 3, and as many ofsuchpairs standing side by side as are desired, and these ways are securedto or formed upon the vibrating bar B, the vibrations of which have atendency to carry the caps and bodies each in its particular groovetoward the front of the machine,

and this bar and ways may be vertically ad justable, so that the rearend,- if preferred, may be slightly elevated to give a more certaintravel to the caps and bodies.

the travel down the ways toward the frontof l the machine, some of thecaps or bodies may be presented with the closed end and others with theopen end, and as it is necessary that before reaching the front of themachine the closed ends all be presented in one direction, I employ aseries of rotary brushes, D,;ar-

ranged upon a shaft laterally across the grooved ways, one of suchbrushes being provided for each of such grooved ways. bodies and capstravel down each its own groove, if the open end is presented toward thefront, one of the spring-teeth of these brushes, always being presentedat the right angle, will enter the open endof the capsule Now, as theselICO 6 which project slightly into the opening on the J teeth will turnthem over prior to their being discharged into the delivei'ytubes. Ifpreferred, such spring-fingers may be substituted for the spring brushwheels D, as they are very accurate and certain in their operation.

A vibratory motion may be given to this carrier-bar O by any of theknown ways. I have shown it supported upon the upper end of two verticalspring-bars, E, the lower ends of which are adj ustably secured to theframe,

and near the upper portion of the frame guides e are employed to holdsuch springbars in a vertical position, and at the same time allow thevibrating motion. A crankshaft, F, driven by hand or by power, as may bedesired, is provided with two eccentrics, j, which communicate thevibratory motion to bars G, the ends of which engage with the cross-barsII, the ends of which latter engage with the spring-bars E, and by thismeans the vibratory motion is given to the carrier-bar G. I do notdesire to confine myself to this method of communicating this vibratorymotion, as many other ways equally effective can be employed withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention. Neither do I desire toconfine myself to this carrier-bar G as a means of carrying the caps andcapsule-bodies from the hopper to the joining devices, which will behereinafter described, as an endless belt grooved for the purpose may beemployed as a carrier, perhaps with equally good results.

We have now the capsules and their bodies presented with their closedends at the end of the rod for delivery now to the joiner. At the end ofthe carrier, and so arranged as to receive the caps and bodies each fromits particular groove of the carrier, there are arranged pipes or tubesone to receive the body and the other the cap, with their closed endsprojected in advance, as more clearly shown in Fig. 4, and each one ofthe grooves of the carrier is arranged to discharge the bodies andcapsules each into its special tube, the closed end downward, and thetubes, by the action of the vibrator and its attachments, are keptfilled with such bodies and caps resting upon each other, and thesetubes or pipes may be extended through the cylinder I to. the lower end;or they may discharge into the cylinder I, constructed as shown in Fig.5, such tube-cylinder I being divided into an equal number of radialchambers, h, the pipes or tubes being so arranged as to discharge thebodies and the caps into chambers immediately opposite each other, asshown in the latter-named figure, and this cylinder I is made to revolveupon its base, so that when one pair of the chambers are filled it maybe slightly turned to present another pair, and so on until it isfilled, if it is so desired, and as may be preferred for some uses. Nearthe bottom of this cylinder spring-catches J are arranged, as shown inFig. 5, either in relation to the pairs of radial chambers or inrelation to the lower end of the tubes in the cylinder I, when theradial chambers are not used,and

by the action of these springs the capsules are held in place until thepressure of the spring is removed.

K is the bed of the joiner proper, through which is formed a cylindricalguide,i,through which the plunger-rod L reciprocates, and this hollowguide is in axial line with the axis of the fixed half M of the jaw. A

N is a slide, upon the inner face of which is formed the other portion,0, of the jaw, the recess or cylinder formed by such parts of the jaw,when in immediate juxtaposition, being coincident with the guide 6. Thisslide N has a reciprocating motion across the bed K, and its front edgeor end, P, is Vshaped and passes in the reciprocation of the slide underthe fixed portion of the jaw in a slot, is, formed therein. To thisslide N the standards Q are secured, carrying at their upper endslaterally-projecting arms R, which pass underneath the springs J andterminate in wedge-shaped heads Z, so that in the rearward motion toclose the jaws O M together the V-shaped termination of the slide Npasses between the body of the capsule upon one side and the cap uponthe other, as shown in Fig. 5, and presents them toward each other bycrowding at their bottom ends, which are the closed ends, with theiropen ends in juxtaposition, the movable jaw O closing upon them andholding them in that position until the plunger L is operated to forcethe open end of the body of the capsule into the open end of the cap,when a further motion of the plunger drives them through the jaws intothe opening T in the bed, whence they are discharged. The retraction ofthe slideN brings the wedge-shaped heads L of the arms B into contactwith the springs J and opens them, so that the next body and cap willdrop, their closed ends resting upon the bed, ready to be tilted by thenext forward movement of the slide and movable jaw.

In Fig. 6, which is a plan of the plunger L and its attachments with thebed removed, the plunger L is shown bending back upon itself to form thelever S,which passes through a guide, 0, upon the under side of theslide N, and from this point this lever curves outwardly, as shown, andterminates in a handle, U, by means of which the plunger is movedbackward and forward, the slot m in the bed allowing this to be done, sothat in the forward movement of the plunger a reciprocating motion ofthe slide N is communicated tov it, and a retraction of the plunger, bymeans of the handle U, withdraws the slide N, ready to repeat theoperation.

If it is desired to fill the capsule-bodies with quinine or other drymedicaments in certain quantities which the body is designed .toreceive, a box, V, which has a reciprocating motion upon the standard W,being attached to the arm G for that purpose, as shown in Fig. 1, isdivided into proper chambers,similar to that of the box A, everyalternate chamber being coincident with the pipe which carries the bodyof the capsule, so that as each body falls into the pipe the box B willdischarge into it from its proper chamber in said box and immediatelyrecede to cut off any further flow until the next capsule-body ispresented, and this is all effected by the movement of the bar G, ashereinbefore described. In this case the body of the capsule is filledbefore the body is capped below; or, what is the equivalent of theprocess just described, the central bore, X, of the cylinder 1, as shownin Fig. 5, may be filled-with medicament, discharging at its bottom inthe line of the advance of the plunger between the chambers whichdischarge the capsule-body and cap, respectively, so that the movementof the plunger compels the body of the capsule to scoop up or fillitself with the medicament before it reaches the open end of the cap.

No claim is madein this application to the two-part adjustable jawhaving an enlarged portion for holding the cap of a capsule in line withthe body thereof, in combination with a reciprocating plungerconstructed to compel the open end of the capsule to enter the open endof the cap, as this feature is shown and claimed in my application No.114,333, filed December 12, 1883.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. In a device for joining the bodiesand caps of gelatine capsules together, a series of chambers arranged-inpairs adapted to deliver from one chamber of the pair the body of thecapsule and from the other the cap thereof upon a grooved carrier, andturning devices, substantially as described, arranged in the paths ofthe bodies and the caps, for compelling a presentation of the closed endof said body and cap in their passage along the carrier, substantiallyas described.

2. In a device for joining the bodies and caps of gelatine capsulestogether, and in combination with the chambers arranged in pairs adaptedto deliver from one chamber of the pair the body of the capsule and fromthe other the cap thereof, a grooved carrier,turning devices,substantially as described, for compelling a presentation of the closedend of said body and cap in their passage along the carrier, and aseries of tubes or pipes arranged in pairs, one of said pipes beingconstructed bination with the chambers arranged in pairs adapted todeliverfrom one chamber of the f pair thebody of the capsule and fromthe other the cap thereof, a grooved carrier, turning devices,substantially as described, for compel ling a presentation of the closedend of said. body and cap in their passage along the carrier, a seriesof tubes or pipes arranged in pairs, one of said pipes being constructedto receive the body of the capsule and the other I the cap from theconveyer or carrier, and to deliver the same to the joining mechanism, a

fixed jaw, a device for compelling the body and cap to present theiropen ends toward each other, a reciprocating jaw constructed to holdsuch body and cap in position against the fixed jaw, and a plunger orrod to compel the open end of the body of the capsule to enter the openend of the cap, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination, in a capsule-machine,

of a series of capsule-holders, a series of pairs of guides, one of eachpair constructed to con-;

duct the bodies and the other of each pair to conduct the caps, a seriesof medicament holders for filling the capsules, and a series of cappersfor jointing the caps to the bodies,

of a series of channels for the conveyance of it substantially asdescribed.

5. The combination, in a capsule-machine,

the parts of the capsule to the holders, with a series of turningdevices constructed and arranged to catch in the open mouths of suchportions of the capsules as are traveling wrong end foremost, to turnthem over, and

a series of pushing devices to cause the eapsule-bodies to enter thecaps thereof, substan= tially as described. JOHN KREHBIEL.

Witnesses:

E. SOULLY, CHARLES J. HUNT.

